INTERN WORKSITE LOCATION: Washington DC
DATES OF INTERNSHIP: September to December (flexible)
LENGTH OF INTERNSHIP: 4 months at 30 hours a week (flexible)
INTERNS SUPERVISOR & CONTACT INFORMATION: Senior Advisor Program Performance and Quality
Mercy Corps responsibilities
For the duration of this internship assignment the intern will receive:
- $670/month stipend
- Workstation within Mercy Corps DC office headquarters
- Access to Mercy Corps online tools
Intern responsibilities
Intern will remain responsible for all costs associated with:
- Living expenses
- Transportations costs
- All other costs associated with this internship
PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
Mercy Corps alleviates poverty, suffering, and oppression and works to build secure, productive, and just communities in over 40 countries around the world. Our Operations Department supports field-led work that delivers measurable impact.
The Program Performance and Quality (“PaQ”) Department is a newly integrated team consisting of monitoring and evaluation functions, program management, gender integration, and a global data management software (called Tola), which is under development. The team’s approach supports both foundational and cutting edge adaptive management approaches to program management, with design, monitoring, evaluation and learning functions as key processes and benchmarks to ensuring evidenced-based decision making for quality program implementation. The team works across a wide spectrum of stakeholders both internal and external to Mercy Corps, as well as diverse technical program approaches and sectors. While the specific roles and responsibilities of this position may evolve over time based on the needs of the team, and the agency, they should include:
- Updating MELWiki with internal and external resources
- Indicator review and revisions from a number of technical sectors
- Supporting the annual beneficiary country process and associated SADD collection
- Contributing to agency indicator tracking system and beneficiary count process
- Attending events in the DC to represent the Program Performance and Quality team
- Supporting and organizing webinars and learning activities for program teams
- Supporting proposals and programs as needed
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: The intern will gain skills in monitoring & evaluation design and planning, as well as gender specific measurement. The intern will also gain knowledge in effective program management, data systems, monitoring and evaluation, and gender integration.
DELIVERABLES:
- Lead updates and revisions of 2-3 technical sectors in the Design for Impact Guide (DIG) for program indicators and tools
- Write learning document about SADD collection and analysis and beneficiary definitions
- Edit beneficiary count guidance
- Set up management plan and input into agency process for country beneficiary count submissions
IDEAL CANDIDATE SHOULD POSSESS THE FOLLOWING QUALIFICATIONS:
- Graduate study complete or in progress in international relations, human rights, development or related field.
- Experience conducting research and analysis from primary and secondary data.
- Experience and interest working on program management and quality
- Experience writing case studies, internal communications, and vibrant storytelling
- Ability to present projects to peers and others as part of representation.
- Strong organizational and communication skills.
- Experience in international development and monitoring and evaluation
- Experience developing indicators and related guidance and rools
- Data management skills, such as experience setting up databases or using online platforms for data management
- Demonstrated data visualization experience, including excel charts and online platforms
SUCCESS FACTORS:
- Self-starter and ability to be managed remotely.
- Flexibility in a non-hierarchical environment.
- Multi-tasker with the proven ability to organize and prioritize competing priorities
- Demonstrated ability to communicate effectively with team members of varied work styles, follow procedures, and meet deadlines
- Flexibility and creativity in planning and problem solving
- Ability to learn quickly, take initiative, and be accountable for results
- Understanding for diverse cultural, political and religious environments and be able to work successfully in those environments.
- Maintaining a sense of humor in stressful situations.
